Seoul wedding shootout
The Seoul wedding shootout occurred on 8 November 1933 when members of the Korean independence movement assassinated Imperial Japanese Army General Kawaguchi Mamoru and businessman Kang In-guk at a wedding hall in Seoul, Korea. Several Japanese soldiers and Korean fighter Chu Sang-ok were killed in the shootout. The two men were attending the wedding of Kang's daughter Mitsuko (who, unknown to everyone, had been inadvertently killed by Kang in an attempt to kill her identical twin sister, the guerrilla Ahn Okyun, who assumed her sister's identity) and Kawaguchi's son, a Lieutenant in the IJA. Governor-General Kazushige Ugaki cancelled his plan to attend the wedding at the last minute, angering Kang, who wanted his daughter to marry the son of a Japanese general so that he could advance in rank. Unbeknownst to Ahn, who hid a pistol in her bouquet of flowers with the goal of killing the two men in a suicide mission, her fellow Korean guerrilla Chu Sang-ok infiltrated the wedding, hiding in a stalled elevator on the same floor as the wedding. In addition, the hired gun "Hawaii Pistol" attended the wedding under the guise of "Lieutenant Tanaka", one of Lt. Kawaguchi's special guards. Hawaii Pistol was noticed by Kempeitai chief Yem Sek-jin, who had previously hired him to kill Ahn and Chu, and he was detained in the main office of the hall. The wedding ceremony was interrupted when a Japanese soldier on the aisle began to load his rifle after noticing Chu in the elevator shaft, and Chu opened fire on the ceremonial guards and IJA soldiers with a PPsH-41 submachine gun. Ahn dropped her bouquet with the gun inside of it, and she was forced to take cover as a massive shootout erupted. Hawaii Pistol used this opportunity to escape his captors and take part in the shootout, assisting Chu in killing the guards. Later, Ahn managed to retrieve her pistol and shoot General Kawaguchi, who was being dragged to cover by his guards. Later, Chu exited the elevator and managed to throw grenades at the Japanese troops entering the hall, which was now vacated of all of its civilian guests. Several grenades were thrown, killing many Japanese soldieres. However, Yem entered the building and shot Chu several times, gravely wounding him. Yem was kept behind cover by Chu's repeated firing at any Japanese soldier who entered the room, and this allowed for Ahn to confront her father, Kang. She was hesitant to kill her father, who nearly drew a pistol and shot her; however, Hawaii Pistol killed Kang before he could do so. Hawaii Pistol and Ahn then proceeded to leave, and a badly-wounded Chu told them that he would meet them downstairs; however, as he loaded an Arisaka rifle, he fell over and died of his wounds. Hawaii Pistol left with Ahn (still thought to be Mitsuko) and Lt. Kawaguchi as "hostages", and they were picked up by a car driven by Hawaii Pistol's associate, "The Buddy". They would escape to a cafe, where "Mitsuko" was "released" to the Japanese soldiers. The two contract killers executed Kawaguchi before escaping into the sewers. Upon their exit from the manhole, however, they found themselves ambushed by the Japanese, who had discovered the sewer route. The two friends were then gunned down after a short fight. The shootout made Ahn a hero, as she had completed the mission that her hit squad of Korean Independence Army fighters had set out to do earlier that month. Yem would finally be served justice in 1949, when Ahn and fellow resistance fighter Myung-woo murdered Yem after he was wrongly acquitted of any offenses during the war. Category:Korean independence movement Category:Terrorist attacks